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Fedora Bugzilla Maintenance SOP

This page and the associated pages explain the processes Fedora uses to manage http://bugzilla.redhat.com as it relates to the Fedora product. These processes were created based on Fedora's past experiences and anticipated future needs.

See the release tracker page which contains links to pages for each release where these procedures where run and recorded

Task Breakdown

Tasks to make sure the bug handling policies listed below run smoothly are grouped by when they take place. These tasks are also included in the comprehensive Fedora release schedule.

Versioning

Fedora tracks bugs solely based on the version number of the release or rawhide

rawhide always refers the release currently under development which has not been released or reached GA (general availability)

Fedora does not create separate fedora versions in bugzilla for individual test releases, including, but not limited to: alpha and beta releases.

Fedora tried this structure in the past, but it provided very little benefit and was difficult to maintain and use consistently.

The new version number for the next Fedora release is added to Bugzilla on the day of general availability (GA).

Changes to this policy require review and approval by FESCo.

Rawhide Version

Rawhide is a unique version number in that it refers to the release stream always under development.

At or around the Feature Freeze milestone, a new release is branched from rawhide.

The branched tree represents the new release of Fedora and a corresponding version number is added to Bugzilla

Bugs for the branched release are tracked under the upcoming release number version.

At branching, bugs assigned to the rawhide version are rebased (changed) to the new release version as they are most closely associated with that version.

For example, when Fedora 22 branches from rawhide, all open bugs for rawhide (with some exceptions) are changed to Fedora 22.

Rebasing rawhide bugs each release cycle helps to keep bugs linked with the release (development cycle) they were found in.

Historically this was a problem because rawhide bugs weren't included in the EOL process and remained open indefinitely.

Rebasing rawhide bugs each release cycle also provides an idea of how many bugs are filed during a given development cycle.

Rawhide Bugs Excluded From Rebase

Feature requests or Requests for Enhancement (RFEs)

Feature requests or RFEs are designated by the FutureFeature keyword

Package Review requests opened against the rawhide version are not rebased.

Package Review bugs are filed and identified by the Package Review component

Tracking bugs

Tracker (Blocker) Bugs

Tracker bugs, sometimes referred to as blocker bugs, are single bugs used to keep track of several other related bugs. Fedora generally uses tracker bugs to keep track of bugs that need to be fixed during key milestones in the development process (blocker bugs) and bugs for which fixes will be accepted through freeze periods (nice-to-have bugs). The BugZappers are responsible for creating tracker bugs for each release. See Tracking Bugs for a listing of the current tracker bugs and process around creating them.

End of Life (EOL)

Releases for which updates are no longer provided are considered to be unmaintained and thus End of Life or commonly referred to as EOL.

Fedora does not track or review bugs for releases where there will be no more updates.

All bugs for EOL releases are automatically closed on the EOL date after providing a warning in the bug comments, 30 days prior to EOL.

See release life cycle for more information about how long releases are maintained and list of releases with their current status.

An unmaintained release receives no maintenance or updated packages. Therefore bugs are not tracked against these releases. In the future we will seek an enhancement to bugzilla to disable the ability to file bugs against unmaintained versions as there is no value in doing so.